I'm wanting a midarm myself - I saw one at Paducah which sits happily on a table, although you can use it on a frame too.
And hearing the same thing from others about newer sewing machines, such as "Those old all-metal Singers were great, the newer ones make great boat anchors." I was given a 1955 Singer 301 which was used by a woman who made curtains and slipcovers. It has the same bobbin case as a Featherweight and still runs great. However, it can't handle the shifting tension problems that crop up in FMQ. I took it to a class once and demonstrated that I COULD do FMQ on it (it took a bit of rigging to get the hopping foot I found to work properly) and the person teaching the class was amazed the machine could do it. Currently doing a 4th quilt on a Husqvarna Emerald 118... long story, not happy with the results of service at the dealer's.

OK, after this one she probably isn't going to make another jeans quilt, after all she has already cut up all her old ones and doesn't have any more. :D
A lot of the shops are going to be putting stuff on special for the holidays so you may find a pretty good deal. I have a Janome 6600, but I got mine used so not a good comparison.

well, she isn't going to be always sewing on heavy, thick fabrics unless she really enjoys working on denim. I made a quilt for my son out of his old jeans and corduroys and yes, it was impossibly heavy - I ended up just tying it, rather than trying to quilt it with a machine (didn;t even contemplate hand quilting) I have a Juki and it probably would have powered through that quilt, but I didn't have it then....so for a new machine I would suggest a Juki, either the quilting or Exceed models. (both around your price point) However, if you have to time to peruse Craigslist you can probably find her a good vintage machine - either a Singer model 15 or a Japanese clone of singer 15 for under $100 that she will be able to use to finish the jeans quilt...it will be a simple, very strong, powerful straight stitch only mechanical machine that she can use for all her piecing and quilting if she desires...or you can still buy her a modern machine with "bells and whistles" like a Juki to go along with the 15 - most of us have a "few" machines to play with:-)

Joann

I think a Janome is a good buy. Seems to be built well and you can get one that is designed for quilting. If you have a dealer near check if they have any on sale. I bought ny 6500 that was a floor model for $900 and got full warranty. The 6500 is very similar to the 6600, just the older version. It may be better if you surprise her with a check and let her pick out her own. So many out there to choose from.

Legally, when you're done surprising your wife, tell her about this forum and ask her to come join us. Make sure she tells us who she is and what machine she got.

Hi,
I just purchased the Brother PQ1500s. It will be used for piecing & free motion quilting. I went to a friend's home and sewed on her 1500 & the equivalent Juki. These are both machines that only straight stitch but will sew at a high rate of speed. I did a lot of research prior to testing the machines out. There are 2 vendors on Ebay that sell the Brother machine for under $600. I own 2 high end sewing machines that embroider and do everything one could want but I just felt it was important to dedicate a (workhorse) machine to free motion quilting & piecing.
HTH
Min

I would not advise you to surprise her and get the machine, surprise her and let her pick out her own. She will be a lot happier.

A nine year old thread is revived by someone who's first post takes you to a website that he wrote an article for. A website that is part of the Amazon affiliate program so if you buy this sewing machine he gets a small payment. This post seems to be a form of spam.

Henryleo's post above is spam. Reported! Do NOT click the link

janiebakes - you are correct, but he didn't write the article. He may not even exist. These review/affiliate sites are purely content scrape fake review ones. There have been dozens of this exact spam in recent months, always a new and different user name.

Thank you MKC. I have been seeing a lot of this kind of post and it didn't even occur to me not to click the link. Naive of me.